The invention relates to a process of the kind such as specified in the precharacterizing part of claim 1, and to an apparatus for performing the process.
During the production of cigarettes, cigars and other strand-shaped smoking material, aromatizers are frequently added to the tobacco, one of the common aromatizers being menthol dissolved in a highly volatile alcohol. A known process underlying the precharacterizing part of claim 1 is disclosed in German Patent 22 54 063 following which the liquid containing the aromatizer is sprayed onto the tobacco before the latter leaves the suction conveyer on which a tobacco strand has been produced. Shortly after the spraying operation, the tobacco strand is wrapped with cigarette paper. The aromatizer-containing liquid is added to the final tobacco strand directly in advance of the wrapping point so that the distributor is not imbibed with the liquid.
The known process entails the risk of stain formation on the cigarette paper due to liquid externally sprayed onto the tobacco strand, which, while being wrapped with cigarette paper, is not yet soaked sufficiently deeply with said liquid. Further, liquid atomized by air pressure tends to crystallize so that solid crystals are contained in the tobacco strand in which the aromatizer is bound.